Did Steve Francis just run his last Lucas Oil Late Model race?

Steve Francis: “I don’t wanna leave this sport but it just takes so much money to do it now.”

At Knoxville Raceway, Steve Francis told the fans he could be retiring. Then, he went out and won his heat race.

A few weeks down the line, The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series season has just concluded. The final race of the season was run last night at Portsmouth Raceway Park.

Does he still feel the same way he did a few weeks ago? I asked him at the 2017 Dirt Track World Championship race.

What are you thinking now?

“I don’t know. I don’t wanna leave this sport but it just takes so much money to do it now,” Steve Francis told RacingNews.co from Portsmouth Raceway Park.

Steve Francis at the 2017 Dirt Track World Championship

If we can get the finances and the people behind us, we’ll do it.

-Steve Francis

“If we can get the finances and the people behind us, we’ll do it. Or if we get a good ride, we’ll do that. But, if none of those things come through then we will retire.”

“Everything’s just kinda up in the air right now. We’ll see what happens.”

Steve Francis throwback dirt late model in 2017 DTWC

Is it that a sponsor is pulling out? Or just that the costs continue to rise and you need more sponsors as a result?

“No, it just costs so much to do it and to do it the way it needs to be done. It just costs a lot of money. The sports been good to me. I’ve made a lot of money in this sport but there’s not much retirement plan for this either.”

You can’t put everything you made back in and be broke when you’re 60 years old.

-Steve Francis

“You can’t put everything you made back in and be broke when you’re 60 years old. I still love this sport and enjoy doing it. I enjoy the traveling and everything else.”

“It’s not that I’m necessarily wanting to quit. I feel like I can still drive race cars as good as anybody. Also, when I was 30 I said I would retire when I was 45 and I’m 50 now.”

Are late models the only option?

“Yeah, probably. I don’t know what else you would do, to make a living at it.”

“I like making a living racing. But, if that’s not the way it is and I need to do something different on more of a regional series with a car owner or something like that — And I still enjoy it and have time for other things, then I’ll do that.”